Book Review: The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker

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The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker  was published on March 17, 2025. It opens with Detective Declan Shaw at a closed subway station trying to work up the nerve to commit suicide when he receives a call from his partner about a break in and homicide at the home of a true crime author. Shaw makes his way to the crime scene to work the case, and in a turn of events, Declan comes under scrutiny in another case loosely connected to this new case. I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Writer  from NetGalley and Little , Brown, and Company for free in exchange for my honest review. I'm appreciative that my request for this book was approved. With this story opening with the main character trying to commit suicide, I almost didn't go any further with the book. However, I am glad I stuck with it as it took me on a fantastic ride and had my emotions all over the place. There were so many twists and turns that just when I thought I had it all figured out, there was ...
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Author Profile: Mary Downing Hahn

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Author Profile Mary Downing Hahn
Mary Downing Hahn is a children's author and a former librarian. She was born on December 9, 1937 in either Washington D.C. or College Park, Maryland to Kenneth Earnest Hahn and Anna Elisabeth Sherwood.  

Before attending school, she was in the care of her grandmother, who terrified her with superstitious beliefs that mainly had to do with death. Hahn's grandmother is featured in many of her middle grade novels, including Daphne's Book, The Time of the Witch, The Doll in the Garden, Time for Andrew, The Old Willis Place, and All the Lovely Bad Ones. During the summer, she would play Mother May I and Kick the Can along with other games. She would also go into the woods, which were supposed to be off limits to her. Anyone else wonder if these excursions are the basis of Stepping on the Cracks?

During elementary school, Hahn was the class artist and enjoyed drawing picture books and disliked writing stories. It wasn't until her junior high days that she to pleasure in actually writing a more complex story and started writing her first book, which she never finished. During high school, the author kept a diary. Throughout college, Hahn wrote poetry and short stories.

It wasn't until the author turned 41 that her first novel, The Sara Summer, was published in 1979. It took her one year to write the story, another year to find a publisher, and yet another year of edits before it was published. It's reported that she had a massive stroke at the age of 44.

The author has been married twice...William E. Hahn on October 7, 1961 with whom she has two daughters and Norman Pearce Jacob on April 23, 1982. She currently lives in Columbia, Maryland.

Mary Downing Hahn Books

Books

The Sara Summer - 1979
The Time of the Witch - 1982
Daphne's Book - 1983
The Jellyfish Season - 1985
Wait Till Helen Comes - 1986
Tallahassee Higgins - 1987
Following the Mystery Man - 1988
December Stillness - 1988
The Doll in the Garden - 1989
The Dead Man in Indian Creek - 1990
The Spanish Kidnapping Disaster - 1991
Stepping on the Cracks (Gordy Smith, #1) - 1991
The Wind Blows Backward - 1993
Time for Andrew, A Ghost Story - 1994
Look for Me by Moonlight - 1995
Following My Own Footsteps (Gordy Smith, #2) - 1996
The Gentleman Outlaw and Me, Eli - 1996
As Ever, Gordy (Gordy Smith, #3) - 1998
Anna All Year Round - 1999
Anna on the Farm - 2001
Hear the Wind Blow, A Novel of the Civil War - 2003
The Old Willis Place - 2004
Janey and the Famous Author - 2005
Witch Catcher - 2006
Deep and Dark and Dangerous, A Ghost Story - 2007
All the Lovely Bad Ones - 2008
Closed for the Season - 2009
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall - 2010
Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls - 2012
Where I Belong - 2014
Took, A Ghost Story - 2015
The Girl in the Locked Room, A Ghost Story - 2018
Guest, A Changeling Tale - 2019
The Puppet's Payback and Other Chilling Tales - 2020
The Thirteenth Cat - 2021
What We Saw, A Thriller - 2022
Took, A Ghost Story Graphic Novel - 2022
All the Lovely Bad Ones, A Ghost Story Graphic Novel - 2023


Sources

American Library Association (ALA), https://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/resources/hahn
Goodreads.com, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10006.Mary_Downing_Hahn
HarperCollins Publishers, https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/mary-downing-hahn-880000020439
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Downing_Hahn

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